Lawsuit: Private Prisoner-Transport Company Made Detainees Sit in Human Waste

INHUMANE

Updated Apr. 24, 2018 2:41PM ET / Published Apr. 24, 2018 2:29PM ET

REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

A lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges that a private prisoner-transport company forced detainees to sit in their own waste, denied them medical attention, and refused to let them shower or sleep. Edward Kovari, who was arrested on charges that ultimately proved to be false, spent 18 days in a transport vehicle while being extradited to Texas. During the trip, he was subjected to conditions that violated his Fourteenth Amendment rights, according to the lawsuit, which was filed against Brevard Extraditions, Prisoner Transportation Services of America, and Prisoner Transportation Services. Court documents say Kovari was often crammed in the vehicle with up to 15 people—and they were all ordered to relieve themselves in bottles or on themselves. The suit claims Kovari was constantly covered in sweat and vomit, and that the detainees were only allowed to shower when they stayed overnight at a nearby prison. Kovari also suffers from hypertension, and was denied his medications throughout the journey, the lawsuit alleges. “No one should be treated like this, no matter what they are accused of, even if they are convicted of a crime,” Jia Cobb, one of Kovari’s attorneys, told The Washington Post. “It’s against the law.”